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Recruiting Scandal: 14 Grady HS players had fraudulent addresses

Atlanta School Superintendent Erroll Davis said Wednesday that out of 58 football players on the Grady High School football team, 14 of them were found to have had fraudulent addresses on record at the school.

ATLANTA -- Atlanta School Superintendent Erroll Davis said Wednesday that out of 58 football players on the Grady High School football team, 14of them were found to havehad fraudulent addresses on record at the school.

In a 23-page report released Wednesday evening, Davis said both parents and school employees were involved in the fraud.

Since the investigation began, a number of players have withdrawn from the school voluntarily, while more were asked to leave the school. In the cases of those who live outside the school's service area, tuition bills were sent to parents.

Davis said at least one player had never seen the inside of a Grady High School classroom.

The fraud included forged handwriting, falsified power bills and multiple families found to be listed as living at the same address -- which was found to be owned bya part-timecoach at Grady.

Personnel decisions were said to be forthcoming, along with possible civil and criminal charges against parents.

The school system is looking into possible changes to prevent this type of abuse from happening in the future.

The Georgia High School Association is said to be looking into what this means for eligibility.

Parents at the school are upset. They said APS and Davis are picking on Grady and on the football team in particular. They insist that this sort of issue occurs everywhere. They want to know what to do about seniors who have basically been screwed by this process. They insist that they are not receiving recruitment calls from colleges and universities.

Davis says this another example of adults failing children, and children paying the price. Last year, 35 educators, including former superintendent Beverly Hall, were indicted for their involvement in the Atlanta Public Schools' test cheating scandal.